Friday, March 4, 2016

Volvo XC40 to Come to U.S. in 2018, Other Compact Models to Follow

Volvo definitely will be bringing its next generation of compact models to the U.S., with the first to arrive being the next-generation of the XC40 crossover that will debut in 2018. “The 40-series will be at the heart of the brand,” Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson told us at the Geneva auto show, confirming that “it will also be a global platform.”

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These 40-series models will be built around the new Volvo-engineered CMA architecture that will also be used by Volvo’s parent company, Chinese automaker Geely. Power will come from both four-cylinder and three-cylinder engines, with Samuelsson also confirming that Volvo is working on a hybrid version which, as on the XC90, will be badged as “Twin Engine” but which will feature a more conventional motor-assisted three-cylinder gasoline engine. He predicts that in Europe this new powerplant will progressively replace diesel engines over the next few years.

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The launch of the XC40 and the V40 and S40 that will follow it will end Volvo’s reliance on Ford engineering; the current V40 still sits on the Focus’s C1 platform and uses some Ford-sourced powertrains.

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Samuelsson confirmed that selling the new 40-series in America is a crucial part of his ambition to increase Volvo’s global production. Last year the Swedish company made 500,000 cars, but his ambition is to get to 800,000 cars a year, with expanded U.S. sales being a big part of that. The company will sell three “series” of models: the freshly launched XC90 and its S90 and V90 siblings at the top, the 40-series at the bottom and with a new range of 60-badged cars set to fill the space in between, built on the same modular SPA architecture as the XC90.

In the future, Volvo wants to sell pretty much all of its models globally, meaning that we should get all of the smaller versions. “There may be a few exceptions,” Samuelsson told us, “like for example a long wheelbase S60 for China, but in general it makes sense to sell cars as widely as possible.”